VietNamNet Bridge – Breeding dangerous animals is now in vogue among the rich
people. They not only have to spend billions of dong, but a lot of time as well
to “hunt” for the wild beasts.

The two rhinos of Le Thanh Than.

Tigers, leopards, lions and rhinos can all be found in the mini farms owned by
millionaires who are ready to spend money like water on their original
collections.

Le Thanh Than, a millionaire in the central region spent one trillion dong to
buy two rhinos to breed on his farm.

The collection of wild beasts of Than also includes a couple of zebra from
Africa, a couple of white horses, tens of antelopes and stags and two ostriches.
However, what most attract visitors are the two tigers and one bear. The big guy
is planning to buy two white tigers in the future.

Meanwhile, a big guy in district 12 in HCM City has a crocodile pond in front of
his house, which helps him relax while seeing the crocodiles biting the bait.

There on the back of his garden, there is a big cage capturing two pythons, six
poisonous snakes, three bears and one chimpanzee. The total value for the "mini
collection" of the big guy in the real estate sector is estimated at hundreds of
millions of dong.

The millionaires not only have to spend money to buy the wild animals, but also
to set up firm cages for them and feed them every day. The food for the animals
alone cost the big guys several million dong a day, which is enough to feed a
family in rural areas for a month.

Besides, they also have to spend money on the workers in charge of taking care
for the precious animals and feed them everyday.

Huynh Uy Dung, President and CEO of the Dai Nam Joint Stock Company, once said
on Tuoi tre newspaper that the feed for the animals costs 200 million dong a
month.

Dung said in the past, it was always the good news if a tiger gave birth, but
this is really a big worry now, because this means that more money needs to be
spent to feed the tigers.

In Vietnam, competent agencies still keep different viewpoints about whether to
allow individuals to own and breed wild beasts. The divergence leads to the fact
that people breed wild animals in the fear that they may “violate the laws” one
day.

Do Quang Tung, Deputy Director of CITES Vietnam, believes that it would be okay
to allow individuals to breed wild animals just for displaying, not for
commercial purpose.

Tung also said that the import of the two rhinos of the millionaire in Nghe An
province does not violate the CITES convention.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Phuong Dung, Deputy Director of ENV (Education for Nature
Vietnam) thinks that Vietnam should not allow breeding wild animals at private
farms, stressing that this work should be assigned to the establishments put
under the state’s control.

If individuals really want to breed the animals, they must bear the supervision
of the state management agencies to ensure that the breeding serves the purposes
written down in the licenses.

Nguyen Can Tho, Director of the Nghe An provincial Department of Agriculture and
Rural Development, also said that it is quite a normal thing to allow an
individual to breed two rhinos.

He said the individuals that breed animals should be highly appreciated for
their contribution to the conservation and biodiversity protection.